I recently returned from China where I filled two diaries with notes, menus and the occasional squashed spice. But for all my frantic scribbling, it is simple recipes such as this that will remain in my repertoire for years to come. It's so light and fresh and nothing like the heavy, greasy version we get from takeaways here. In fact it's such a simple, fragrant eat that in China, often a bowl of egg fried rice is served as the last dish of around 14. This is also a good way to use leftover rice (no more than a day old though). Let's face it, we're all guilty of cooking too much rice sometimes.

Serves two. Takes 15 minutes (30 if you start with raw rice)

400g cooked rice (or 200g raw)

30g unpeeled ginger, washed and grated

1 red chilli, sliced and with the seeds if you like it fiery (or good splash of chilli sauce)

2-3 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp toasted sesame oil

150g purple sprouting or long-stem broccoli, washed

3 eggs

3 tbsp groundnut oil

4 spring onions, cut into 2cm batons

▶ Cook your rice if you haven't already.

▶ Put a pan of salted water for the broccoli on to boil.

▶ Trim off the woody end of the broccoli stems, and if they're thick split the stems lengthways.

▶ In a small bowl mix the ginger, chilli, soy and sesame oil.

▶ Drop the broccoli into the boiling water for three to four minutes until cooked but still crunchy. Drain the broccoli and tip back in the pan, pour the soy-ginger mix over, give it a stir and stick the lid on to let it infuse.

▶ Beat the eggs with a pinch of salt.

▶ In a wok or frying pan heat the groundnut oil until just about smoking. Pour in the beaten eggs and half scramble for about 20 seconds before adding the cooked rice. Give it a good stir, and after a minute chuck in the spring onions. Keep moving it regularly while the rice lightly fries for a further four-ish minutes – until it smells good and is beginning to get nice little brown crunchy bits.

▶ Serve the rice in bowls with the broccoli and, most crucially, the chilli and ginger sauce over the top.